Thank you for allowing me to raise the need for the appointment of a remedial teacher for the primary schools in Glenbrohane, Knockadea, Ballylanders and Knocklong, County Limerick. There are 93, 86, 82, and 120 pupils respectively in these schools. Of the 381 pupils, approximately 11 need remedial assistance. Their names were forwarded to the Department of Education in May 1995. The tests set to ascertain their circumstances were the Marino word recognition, the MICRA-T reading test and the SIGMA-T mathematics test. The results, which included an evaluation of each child's ability in relation to age, were forwarded to the Department.
Some of the pupils had to tranfer outside their school areas for remedial help. Thus, parents are forced to pay for private tuition for them. One child is attending a special class at Mitchelstown. Each day her father drives her to and from this school, which is ten miles from their home. He has done this for three years. Children are remaining in lower classes despite their age. Two girls remained in third and fourth classes although they are shown on the class roll as being in fifth and sixth classes. There is extreme concern about this and it is seen as disgraceful discrimination. The schools involved have a total of 14 teachers but other groups of schools in the area with fewer teachers have the services of remedial teachers.
We should treat all children equally. Children in small rural schools should have the same facilities and opportunities as those in large urban areas. However, the children in Glenbrohane, Knockadea, Ballylanders and Knocklong national schools requiring remedial help are being deprived of it. This is unfair and discriminatory. The situation should be corrected and a remedial teacher should be appointed for the next school year in these areas. When a child undergoes remedial teaching, it is important he or she gets help at primary level.
The problem of education of the disadvantaged must be addressed at primary level and it is important that the identification of problems is made at an early stage in a child's school life. Children who are unable to cope with school must be professionally assisted. The inability of schools to cope with these children must also be addressed. Children with problems in the schools to which I have referred do not have a remedial teacher and are being discriminated against by the Department of Education.
Under-achievement in school is not unique; it exists in all communities. With the exceptional pressures placed on children to perform, it is essential that remedial teaching is available to all who require it. Learning difficulty is viewed as the gap between attainment of the pupils and their potential. Remedial teaching aims at closing the gap by providing additional, specialised teaching on an individual or group basis. In the schools under discussion, there are children in need of this assistance and until it is available, the education system has failed them.
The absence of the remedial teacher is clearly identified in the transition of pupils from primary to secondary schools. Such pupils experience extreme difficulties. Many do not complete their secondary education. Children who need remedial teaching and do not receive it are more likely to find themselves among the long-term unemployed because of the failure in the education system to provide a remedial service which would enable them to reach their potential. I ask the Minister to examine this issue with a view to appointing remedial teachers for the future.
